This I Believe

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” This famous quote by world-renown author Aldous Huxley justifies my very belief in music. There are certain things that simply cannot be explained in plain English, but need to be combined with sound, beats, little tweaks, melodies, and shrills to create a setting through which a feeling can be completely expressed. Have you ever had a special song come on the radio, and jog your mind back to one point in time, doing one thing, in one place, with certain people? Most likely, you wouldn’t be able to explain what you think of when you hear that little piece of music to someone who wasn’t present at the time of it. Music is a very personal thing.

Music can make your mood or break it depending on the events that it reminds you of, and I think that is part of what makes it so magical. Songs have so much more power over our emotional strength than people give them credit for. A teenage girl might hear a song playing that reminds her of an ex-boyfriend, and cause her to break down. Or, a song symbolizing an amazing summer with their friends could cause an otherwise sour day to be just a little more positive. I know that many times, if I’ve been having a less-than perfect day, if I hear a song that I like it’ll make my day just a little better and get me through it for that time. It does suck when it works the opposite way (if you’re having a good time, and then all of a sudden you hear a song that reminds you of someone you aren’t friends with anymore or one that makes you sad), but you just have to remember the positive things about your life instead of basing your mood around one small part. I believe in the power of music as therapy, and as a form of expression through which to vent.

I think that much of the world today just goes with the mainstream thing, and with whatever music is ‘cool’ or ‘hip’, regardless of whether or not it holds meaning to them, because it’s just what everyone else listens to. Music is, and should be, a very personal thing to experience. To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts, is to be a fan. There is nothing better than to be able to hear a song and have a feeling that wells up inside you completely unrelated to whatever you might be doing at the time, and enjoy it. I think that the greatest form of bliss comes through individual euphoric experiences from music, and that everyone has the right to experience that.

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Top 100 Essays USB Drive

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.